A Thousand Miles
by tekkenfreek236
Summary: What would you do for the person you never thought you could love so much?
1. Chapter 1

_A thousand Miles Chapter One: (I still can't think of a good name for Chapter 1)_

The day started off pretty normal. Arnold was sitting in his class, taught by Mr. Simmons. He was rambling on about how special each and every day was and you never know when your time may come. According to Arnold, this was kind of dark coming from Mr. Simmons because usually, he doesn't speak on the subject of "death" much. Or, should we say, AT ALL! Anyway, He listened to Mr. Simmons's speech and did the paperwork he was given while some others grabbed their cellphones and texted people, others pulling out there PSPs, Some PSPs playing "A Dark March" by Danger Mouse. As soon as the bell rang, signaling the end of the day, the class raced out of the room except Arnold and Helga...

"Hey, football-head, better not be late for the nerd convention." Helga said, for lack of any other things to say. This seemed to work, though.

"Hey, Helga." Arnold said. He walked away, calmly. He met Gerald outside of school.

"Hey, man. What's up?" Gerald said to his best friend. They started walking together, headed for the arcade to play some video games for lack of anything better to do.

"Nothin' much. Helga's still a jerk, my grandparents are still crazy, and Lila still likes me just like a friend. What's been happening to you?"

"Gerald, turn off that light! You'll run up the electric bill! And turn down that damn radio! It's givin' me a headache!" Gerald said in his best imitation of his father's voice. He did pretty well, too. Anyway, they both laughed. They reached the arcade and Arnold realized he didn't have any quarters. Luckily, Gerald gave him eight quarters and Gerald kept eight as well. They played Crash Nebula: The Video Game and Dead Teacher IV. As usual, Gerald was a gamer and won about everytime he faced Arnold in a bout on both games. It was all fun, though.

"I'd better head home. I'll see you tomorrow, Gerald." Arnold waved goodbye as he walked opposite of his friend. He walked into his door, let all the cats and dogs and Abner out. He then headed inside and

"THREE CHEERS FOR THE RED, WHITE AND BLUE!" Gertrude sang, scaring the pants off of Arnold as he walked through the door of Sunset Arms suddenly hearing his Grandmother burst out like that.

"POOKIE! KEEP IT DOWN! KEEP IT DOWN!" Phil yelled. Arnold nodded his head and got a start on his homework. He made sure it was all done and complete and then afterwards, he heard a bell signaling that the steak and eggs was ready. Arnold headed downstairs for dinner.

"Look, I had my eye on that steak before you did! Give it back!" Ernie said, pounding his fists on the table.

"Hey, you little midget, I had my eye on it before you even thought about having your eye on it!" Mr. Hyunh yelled back at Ernie.

"Now, now. Let's just settle this little predicament and let me have them both!" Mr. Kokoshka retorted. He then laughed nervously and then Ernie threw a piece of steak at him. Then Mr. K reacted by throwing eggs at Ernie. They all, soon, got into a big food fight and Arnold was in the middle of it. He escaped by lying low and sneaking up to his room. He then fell into a deep sleep. It was all a pretty normal day, really. Nothing happened that usually doesn't happen. Everything was as it should have been and should be. As he slept, he

But the next day is what got to Arnold. Something that usually doesn't happen...happened! Helga wasn't mean to him at all that day! She didn't even say one word to him. Everytime she saw him, she just sighed. He wondered what was wrong with Helga. He got up the nerve to ask her after class.

"Helga, I noticed you've been acting strange around me today. Is there anything the matter?" Arnold asked. Helga turned around from picking up the rest of her books out of her desk.

"What if there is? It's not like it's any of your business, Arnoldo." Helga replied.

"Well, sorry I asked..." Arnold told Helga. He walked off to his next class and Mr. Simmons walked out of the room. She then had a flashback of what happened yesterday.

_"Yeah, Nick. I unders-I understand. OH YEAH! 20--200,000 DOLLARS! I--That's it. We'll be there in a couple of weeks. Tw--two weeks? Okay!" Bob seemed excited as Helga recalled. She wondered what he was so excited about and decided to ask her dad what was going on._

_"Oh, hey, Helga," Bob said anxiously, "Umm, you don't mind moving to Wisconsin, do you?"_

_"Uhh, you're joking right? You must be since you actually got my name right..." Helga asked her father, nervously. She hoped that Bob was joking. She didn't want to leave any of her friends. Her whole life was in Hillwood!_

_"Umm...No, I'm not joking..." Bob said, walking away._

Helga knew she was going away in two weeks now and the only choices she had was either tell Arnold her feelings for him or she could not tell him and just go to Wisconsin, letting Arnold live his life. She didn't know what to do. How was she going to bring this up with her friends? She couldn't just leave them without saying goodbye but, she really didn't want to leave. She had unfinished business in Hillwood. What should she do?


	2. Chapter 2

And so it began. Helga faced a dilemma. Should she fess up to Arnold now, before she left her life behind in Hillwood, or would it be better to keep it a secret? If she fessed up, then maybe she'd feel relieved and be able to leave Hillwood and not feel like she was leaving anything behind, but there was always the possibility of him rejecting her. Also, what about Phoebe? Helga just couldn't forget about her. Even though she undermined her, she still liked Phoebe as her best friend.

Helga fell flat and face down into the pillows on her bed and screamed. She thought about ripping her hair out from all this stress, and it's only been two days! Something made Helga jump, but only realized it was her phone. She picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Helga," answered Phoebe.

"Hey, Pheebs," Helga replied tiredly

"What's wrong, Helga?" asked Phoebe

"It's just that I," Helga let out a huge sigh in the middle of her sentence, "I'm moving in two weeks and I don't know how to deal with it."

"Oh, I see."

"Yeah, but I don't know if I should tell Arnold how I feel or not." said an exhausted Helga

"Well, I think it's better late than never, Helga. Who knows if you'll ever see him again once you move?" Phoebe advised.

"But what if he doesn't--"

"If he doesn't like you back, then at least you know you had the guts to tell him." Phoebe interrupted

"I just don't know what to do, Phoebe. I've gotta go." Helga said, hanging up the phone. She laid there on her bed and eventually fell asleep.

"It's like she's not even being herself anymore." said Gerald

"Well, you should take advantage of the fact that maybe she's just gotten bored with you!" said Gerald

"It just doesn't seem normal for her _not_ to call me football-head every time she sees me." Arnold explained. He stepped down from the stoop of Sunset Arms and walked with Gerald towards Gerald Field.

"Give it a few weeks, it'll grow on you. I figured you'd be happy once Helga finally got of your back, dude!" said Gerald.

"I know I should be, but I can tell there's something eating away at her."

"Man, go ahead and investigate, Sherlock. I'll just be glad she's not callin' me names and shoving me around in the halls anymore." Gerald said as they both turned a corner. The two boys played ball with the gang, although Helga was absent. It was unusually quiet because of her absence as she wasn't yelling insults at everybody about how bad they stink at baseball. Arnold seemed to notice this the most and it affected his ability to concentrate on the game and he played a miserable game.

For Arnold's performance in the game, he was hazed by the rest of the team, but not for long as everyone had to be somewhere else after the game was over. Arnold took a lonely walk all the way back home, still thinking of Helga. He knew it was unusual for him to think about her this much.

"Yes, he is cute and ever so sweet! I don't know if I should, though." said Lila, talking to her friend on the phone. She was wondering whether she should ask Arnold out or not. Any time she had told Arnold that she still only just liked him, it was a bold faced lie. She just wanted him to feel how she felt at the time when he only liked her and she "liked him liked him". Upon realizing how childish she thought it all was, she decided that maybe she could give Arnold a second chance. After all, she did find everything about him attractive.

"You should totally ask him out, Lila. Like seriously, you can't keep him dangling forever. He's learned his lesson, you should totally go for it now!" said Lila's friend.

"I think I will! I'll talk to you tomorrow and fill you in."

Lila hung up the phone and then headed to her room.

At school the next day, Mr. Simmons announced to the whole class that they were doing a "super special" project! Everyone groaned when he also said that it included a 1 page report, visual aid, it was due next week and that he was pairing everyone up since he knew who worked best together.

"Okay. Class. Now, the teams are going to be Phoebe and Gerald, Rhonda and Harold, Eugene and Nadine, Stinky and Sid, Iggy and Sheena, Peapod Kid and Torvald, Arnold and Lila, and last but certainly not least, Helga and Brainy!"

Helga put her hand on her head as soon as she heard who she was paired up with. She was also annoyed by the fact that Mr. Simmons paired Arnold up with "Little Miss Perfect".

"Now class, I also have some bad news." said Mr. Simmons The class moaned again, but Mr. Simmons tried to reassure them.

"It's going to be okay class. Anyway, our very own Helga Pataki will be leaving us in 10 days. I understand if some of you may feel like crying, but I encourage you to let your emotions flow!" said Mr. Simmons. The class, naturally, cheered because of this and it threw Mr. Simmons for a loop as he tried to calm everyone down. Helga immediately showed Ol' Betsy and The Five Avengeres to everyone and they stopped cheering just as quickly as they had started cheering.

As for Arnold, he thought to himself that this must be the reason why Helga was acting so strangely, though he couldn't imagine why it would. He decided that he would ask her about it as soon as he had a chance.

That chance came during lunch, whenever Arnold was looking for a place to sit down, he decided that he would sit down with Phoebe and Helga.

"What do you want, Arnold?" asked Helga

"You're not going to insult me?" asked Arnold, rhetorically

"I'm feeling generous, but I just want to be left alone."

"You're here with Phoebe." Arnold stated

"So, I always sit with her."

"Do you want to tell me what's on your mind, Helga?"

"No, could you just leave me alone, please?!" asked Helga, getting annoyed

"I'm just curious. What's bothering you so much that you can't make me miserable?" asked Arnold

"I don't fucking know, just go away!" Helga said, growing more annoyed.

Arnold got up and sat at his regular table with Gerald and the rest of his buddies.

"Did you find out what's wrong with Helga, Sherlock?" asked Gerald

"No. She just kept pushing me away."

Meanwhile, Phoebe and Helga were talking. Phoebe tried to convince Helga that she shouldn't push people away from her like she usually does, but Helga just ignored her.

Meanwhile, Lila had gone up to Arnold's table to talk to him about maybe going out some time. Nervously, she started up the conversation about her day and how she's glad she's partners with Arnold and once she felt comfortable, she asked him.

"Arnold, I was thinking."  
"About what?" asked Arnold, as he sipped his milk

"Well, I was thinking that maybe me and you could possibly..." Lila hesitated

"Possibly what?" asked Arnold casually

"Go out?" asked Lila, relieved

At first, Arnold sort of stared at her, but then returned with a, "Yes, of course! That would be wonderful!"

"Oh thank you ever so much, Arnold!" Lila said happily, excited that she finally got up the nerve to ask him out.

Later, just after the bells signaling the end of the day had rang, Helga had walked by Arnold's locker. Normally, she would have just left had it not been for Lila being there. She had to see why Lila was there.

"So, you want to have lunch over at my house this weekend?" asked Lila.

"Sure. Maybe we can catch a movie afterward." Arnold suggested

"Sounds alright to me, I'd just have to ask my dad. Would your grandfather be okay with it?"

"Yeah, it would be just fine. I'll just have to let him and grandma know." Arnold told Lila

"This is going to be ever so wonderful, Arnold!" Lila stated anxiously, "What movie should we see?"

"I wouldn't know, but I'll make sure it's not scary!" Arnold gave Lila a big hug.

"Oh, Arnold, this is going to be ever so wonderful!" Lila said, hugging Arnold.

Helga could have screamed after seeing what had played out in front of her! She didn't, though. She felt angry at Lila. She had finally done it, she had finally stolen her man! The only boy who ever made her feel special has finally been taken from her! Helga could have cried, but she told herself that she was too tough to cry and just insulted anyone who looked at her funny

Why? Why would he do this? Why couldn't it have been her? Oh right, because she had never told him anything other than that his head looks like a football. Helga started regretting all the years of bullying she had put Arnold through.

Helga soon arrived in front of the Pataki household. As she entered, she saw boxes everywhere. Bob had just gotten done packing a box and set it on top of another one beside their couch when he noticed that Helga had walked into the room.

"Hey, Olga," Bob said Helga didn't answer and just ran up to her room to get some rest.

"Why is she so upset?" Bob said, thinking aloud. He decided to follow Helga up to her room and knocked on her locked door.

"Helga, is there any reason why you're upset?" Bob didn't get a reply. He thought about knocking on the door again, but thought that he should just finish packing.


End file.
